CHAPTER 8
Then the LORD
said
to
Joshua,
“Do not
be afraid
or discouraged.
Take
the whole
army
with you,
and go up
and attack
Ai.
See,
I have handed over to you
the king
of Ai,
his people,
his city,
and
his land.
And you shall do
to Ai
and its king
as
you did
to Jericho
and its king,
except that
you may carry off
their plunder
and livestock
for yourselves.
Set
an ambush
behind
the city.”
So Joshua
and the whole
army
set out
to attack
Ai.
Joshua
chose
30,000
valiant
warriors
and sent them out
at night
with these orders:
“Pay attention.
You
are to lie in ambush
behind
the city,
not
too
far
from it.
All of you
must be
ready.
Then I
and all
the troops
with me
will advance
on the city.
When
they come out
against us
as
they did the first time,
we will flee
from them.
They will pursue
us until
we have drawn them away
from
the city,
for
they will say,
‘The Israelites are running away
from us
as they did before.’
So as we flee
from them,
you
are to rise
from the ambush
and seize
the city,
for the LORD
your God
will deliver it
into your hands.
After you have taken
the city,
set it
on fire.
Do
as the LORD
has commanded!
See,
I have given you orders.”
So Joshua
sent them out,
and they went
to
the place of ambush
and lay in wait
between
Bethel
and Ai,
to the west
of Ai.
But Joshua
spent
that
night
among
the people.
Joshua
rose early
the next morning
and mobilized
his men,
and he
and the elders
of Israel
marched
before
them
up to Ai.
Then all
the troops
who were
with him
marched up
and approached
the city.
They arrived
in front of Ai
and camped
to the north
of it,
with the valley
between
them and the city.
Now Joshua had taken
about five
thousand
men
and set
them
in ambush
between
Bethel
and Ai,
to the west
of the city.
So the forces
were stationed
with the main
camp
to the north
of the city
and the rear guard
to the west
of the city.
And that
night
Joshua
went
into
the valley.
When the king
of Ai
saw the Israelites,
he hurried
out
early in the morning
with the men
of the city
to engage
them
in battle
at an appointed place
overlooking
the Arabah.
But he
did not
know
that
an ambush
had been set against him
behind
the city.
Joshua
and all
Israel
let themselves be beaten back
before them,
and they fled
toward
the wilderness.
Then all
the men of Ai
were summoned
to pursue them,
and they followed
Joshua
and were drawn away
from
the city.
Not
a man
was left
in Ai
or Bethel
who
did not
go out
after
Israel,
leaving
the city
wide open
while they pursued
Israel.
Then the LORD
said
to
Joshua,
“Hold out
your battle lance
toward
Ai,
for
into your hand
I will deliver the city.”
So Joshua
held out
his battle lance
toward
Ai,
and as soon as he did so,
the men in ambush
rose
quickly
from their position.
They rushed forward,
entered
the city,
captured it,
and immediately
set it
on fire.
When the men
of Ai
turned
and looked
back,
the smoke
of the city
was rising
to the sky.
They could not
escape
in any direction,
and the troops
who had fled
to the wilderness
now became the pursuers.
When Joshua
and all
Israel
saw
that
the men in ambush
had captured
the city
and that
smoke
was rising from
it,
they turned around
and struck down
the men
of Ai.
Meanwhile, those in the ambush
came out
of
the city
against them,
and the men of Ai were
trapped between
the Israelite
forces
on
both sides.
So Israel struck them down
until
no
survivor
or fugitive
remained.
When Israel
had finished
killing
all
the men
of Ai
who had pursued
them
into the field
and wilderness,
and when every
last one of them had fallen
by the sword,
all
the Israelites
returned
to Ai
and struck it down
with the sword.
Joshua
did not
draw back
his hand
that
held
his battle lance
until
all
the inhabitants
of Ai
were completely destroyed.
Israel
took
for themselves
only
the cattle
and plunder
of that
city,
as the LORD
had commanded
Joshua.
He hung
the body of the king
of Ai
on
a tree
until
evening,
and at sunset
Joshua
commanded
that they take down the body
from
the tree
and throw it down
at
the entrance
of the city
gate.
And over it
they raised
a large
pile
of rocks,
which remains to
this
day.
just as
Moses
the servant
of the LORD
had commanded
the Israelites.
He built it according to what is written
in the book
of the Law
of Moses:
an altar
of uncut
stones
on
which
no
iron tool
had been used.
And on it
they offered
burnt offerings
to the LORD,
and they sacrificed
peace offerings.
And there
in the presence
of the Israelites,
Joshua inscribed
on
the stones
a copy
of the Law
of Moses,
which
he had written.
All
Israel,
foreigners
and citizens alike,
with their elders,
officers,
and judges,
stood
on both sides
of the ark
of the covenant
of the LORD
facing
the Levitical
priests
who carried
it.
Half of the people stood
in front
of Mount
Gerizim
and half of them
in front
of Mount
Ebal,
as
Moses
the servant
of the LORD
had commanded
earlier
to bless
the people
of Israel.
Afterward,
Joshua read aloud
all
the words
of the law—
the blessings
and the curses—
according to all
that is written
in the book
of the law.
There was
not
a word
of all
that
Moses
had commanded
that
Joshua
failed
to read
before
the whole
assembly
of Israel,
including the women,
the little ones,
and the foreigners
who lived
among them.